Report – BMW will announce Mexico facility plans this week

The German automaker’s move to start building a new plant for the North American region has long been reported and rumored and it looks like the top premium automaker is going to announce very soon its planned investment.

While all rumors gave the idea of a second plant in North America as a definite fact, they all had a common debate issue – the location of the second manufacturing facility in the region. While BMW has officially stated that it’s considering sites in Canada, the United States and Mexico – all industry experts agree that only the second and third would actually be eligible.

Now, a Mexican government official, which opted to remain anonymous, has disclosed that BMW finally selected Mexico as the location for its second plant in the region – as the company moves to increase production capabilities there and tap increasing demand for its premium range of autos. Also, the disclosure comes only days after Daimler, the parent of rival Mercedes-Benz, has unveiled its own plans for a Mexico factory, albeit one jointly owned together with Nissan’s Infiniti.

The Mexican official said the proposed investment is of at least 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion), with the chosen location being either near Mexico City or in central Mexico, in San Luis Potosi. A supplier leaked roadmap for the new plant included a production start scheduled for late 2017 and an eventual production capacity of 200,000 units by 2020.